


You know what they say about the young

by SnitorisSnape



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Dates, First Kiss, M/M, Makeouts, Post Kingdom Hearts II, being dorks, canon-verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-21 14:29:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7390927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnitorisSnape/pseuds/SnitorisSnape
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What started out as skipping school and going to Deep Jungle on a simple mission for the King somehow turned into a kind of a first date for Sora and Riku. As far as Sora is concerned, this is how all thursdays should go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You know what they say about the young

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a line from Rusted Root's - Send Me on My Way (aka the song from Ice Age/Matilda/my head; always stuck in there when I go hiking)

It wasn’t often Sora bounded out of bed on a school day. He usually was in no hurry, slowly inching out from under the warm covers, taking his time before having to brave the chilled morning air. It wasn’t because he didn’t enjoy mornings, or disliked waking up, (in fact he got up even earlier on weekends,) school days just didn’t provide anything worth waking up for.

Sora had never enjoyed the structure or the stress school brought, and after so long spent away, he was finding it even harder to resign himself to the routine of it. School had too much sitting, too much stillness, too much being punished for talking to someone or glancing out the window, too much agitated bouncing of his foot and too much energy being pent up. Nothing about it was worth excitedly throwing covers back, moving so quickly the mattress squeaked, rushing to get the day started.

But despite it being a thursday, there was plenty worth bounding out of bed for. He had so much to look forward to, in fact, that Sora nearly got whiplash from the speed he exerted in pulling off the blankets and scrambling up to his feet, shutting off the blaring alarm clock on his bedside table. He tripped over various things left on the floor on his way to the closet, and thought to attend to the mess at a later time, though he had a sneaking suspicion he was going to misplace that mental note.

Sora, on instinct, grabbed for his school uniform. He caught himself right before pulling the fabric off the hanger, and hung it back up, promptly turning on his closet light before getting to his knees to rummage around for wherever he had put the clothing given to him at the Mysterious Tower. He vaguely remembered it ending up in the laundry, but he was unsure where it had gone after that. Apparently, stuffed in a box full of other odds and ends he had gathered during time spent away, things he hadn’t the faintest idea what to do with but still had a strong desire to hold onto.

Sora quickly changed and then shook out his backpack of all it’s unnecessary homework and pencils so he could pack important adventuring supplies. He found himself grateful for choosing to keep everything in the box, finding a few ethers underneath miscellaneous items like that really cool rock Tigger had given him. 

Sora left his room carefully, backpack slung on his shoulders and hair half-brushed, doing his best not to make any noise as he ventured downstairs. The wood had become creaky with age and he winced as one panel let out a particularly loud groan. He told himself he was just trying to be a considerate son, letting his hard-working mother get some well-deserved rest. It was just an added bonus if that consideration of letting her sleep prevented narrowed eyes and nagging questions about where he was going to and why he thought it was okay to skip school.

Unfortunately, despite all his carefully honed sneaking skills, when he made his way to the kitchen he found it lit up and occupied. There was his mother, tired but attentive, bathrobe pulled on and sipping a mug of coffee, looking at his attire with raised eyebrows, holding the potential to turn more terrifying than any gods of the underworld or cutthroat pirates Sora had seen.

“And just where are you going, Sora?” she asked, her voice misleadingly conversational.

Sora was about to say school, because that was going to be his original explanation for a day’s worth of absence from the house. Except now that she had seen him dressed the way he was, decidedly not in uniform, he couldn’t exactly try and pull that one. “Uhm,” he scratched at his cheek and averted her gaze. “On a royal mission for the King?” He tried to sound charming and not-fidgety.

“Really.” It didn’t sound like a question. It sounded like a threat. “So, when was I going to hear about this?”

Sora inched his way around where she sat at the breakfast table, sticking close to the counter. Maybe if he backed away slowly, maybe if she didn’t notice, maybe he could slip out unscatched-

She was still staring at him and he froze in place, realizing he wasn’t going anywhere until he provided an explanation. “I didn’t think it was worth mentioning,” Sora shrugged meekly. Which was true, because it was relatively unimportant and because he wanted to avoid her freaking out on him like she had when he first returned to the Islands.

She took a deep breath and set down the cup, hissing a sharp _”Sora,”_ and he knew it had been the wrong thing to say. He winced, reflexively grabbing at the countertop for support as she stood up. “Just like how it wasn’t worth mentioning where you were for two years? Like how it wasn’t worth mentioning what a ‘Keyblade’ is and how you’re suddenly it’s ‘master’ now?”

Sora wasn’t sure what to say. There was a lot of guilt bubbling up inside him as drew circles into the ground with his foot, not certain he could face the stare that he could feel burning into him. When he finally did, he saw that she didn’t look angry, just… exhausted. “Sora.. it’s hard for me to understand what’s going on,” her eyes became a bit softer, “and I guess I understand that the worlds ‘need you,’ but how am I supposed to accept that if you don't tell me why?”

She pushed back her chair, taking only the few steps needed to cross their small kitchen so that they were facing eachother. Sora slouched a bit, leaning against the counter so that they were closer to eye level. “I don’t like having to interrogate everything out of you,” she told him firmly.

“Sorry, mom.” Sora told himself that if he could stare down into the eyes of evil itself he should be able to hold eye contact with his mother, but it was proving to be difficult. “I’ll keep you in the loop from now on,” he murmured, looking away.

He could feel her staring for a minute before she relaxed, seemingly satisfied. “Alright. So what’s this about a royal mission?”

Sora turned to her, grin spreading across his face. “Does that mean you’re letting me go?”

“Depends on where you’re going,” she informed him and Sora’s heart sank a sliver. Still, this conversation was going a lot better than it could have..

Sora decided to dive right in, figuring he owed it to his mom to give a thorough explanation for once, not just some offhand and around the bush answer mumbled after hours of questioning. However Sora barely managed to start. He had only gotten to, “So, the King is-” before being interrupted.

“The King is… the small mouse-man?” She asked, “Right?”

Sora was a little startled to hear anyone refer to his majesty like that. “Uhm, right,” he murmured assent. “So the King wants to regain order in the worlds that have been hurt by the Heartless-” He was interrupted again.

“Those are the cats- the ones with the yellow eyes?” Sora was doubly shocked to hear the Heartless being described so innocuously. “The ones that showed up during the storm?”

“Some of them look like that, yeah,” Sora said. His mom nodded, frowning thoughtfully. He figured it was safe to continue. “So he’s been working with my friends at Radiant Garden-” Sora realized his mistake in not giving her a full story before, because now she was stopping every moment to try and align what vague knowledge he had given her with this story.

“Is that… your friends Donald and Goofy?” She asked, saying their names like she still wasn’t sure if that was how they were supposed to be pronounced.

Sora shook his head. “No, this is Yuffie and Leon and the gang.” He he had told her about Leon and Yuffie being the ones who had first explained the Keyblade to him (leaving out the part where he had been knocked unconscious and dragged into a hotel room first; of course), and she seemed to remember their names, nodding again.

“So they’ve been working together to check in on the worlds to make sure they’re doing okay.” Sora paused to see if this would prompt anymore questions, but his mom just quietly stared at him, politely listening, so he decided it was okay to continue. “And they want me and Riku to be a part of their team.”

Sora chose to focus on this part of the story, knowing it would fair well with his mother. “But the King doesn't want to rush us back into fighting. He wanted to give us a chance to recover and settle in and stuff.” She nodded once more, clearly agreeing with the King’s sentiment. “And because it’s been awhile since me and Riku have had to use our Keyblades, he said he wanted to ease us back into missions.”

This had been the thing Sora had liked least about his assignment, arguing that he was totally fine and ready to take on more enemies anytime. Though, he had agreed to the mission regardless, because in the end it didn’t matter what he was doing if it meant he get to romp around and explore with Riku, two things he was sorely missing thanks to stupid school.

“So, awhile ago, an auto-piloting supply ship malfunctioned and crashed on a world, and Yuffie tried to recover it but she couldn’t break the automatic crash-landing feature, so they want me and Riku to go unlock it for her,” Sora finally finished.

His mother seemed to be mulling over his story. After a moment she said, “With your Keyswords?” Sora saw no point in correcting that, choosing to nod instead.

“It’s just a really easy task to get us used to missions again,” Sora assured her.

“Well, I like the sound of that,” she admitted. Sora grinned.

“Yeah! So it’s totally safe, the world’s pretty close by and I’ve been there before,” Sora couldn’t help but feel conversation was going really well, his mother had relaxed considerably. “I even have a friend there!”

This seemed to have finally reassured her. She smiled. “Really? What’s the world called?” Sora was excited at her expressed interest.

“Deep Jungle.” He hadn’t thought anything of it but the name made his mother recoil.

“I like the sound of that a lot less,” she informed him. “Who are is your friend there?”

“Tarzan.”

She narrowed her eyes. She asked, “Who are his parents? Do I know them?” probably out of habit, seeing as Sora was fairly sure there was no way she could have bumped into someone from another world while out shopping or something.

“...I don’t think so?” Sora scratched at the back of his neck. “He, uhm, was adopted by gorillas so…” This was clearly the wrong thing to say. She gave Sora an incredulous look and then took a deep, deep inhale. It was similar to her reaction when Sora had introduced her to Donald and Goofy.

“I…” She pinched at the bridge of her nose. “When will you get back?”

Sora hadn’t given that any thought. It wasn’t going to take them very long, surely. “Sometime tonight at the latest?” he guessed.

She was still looking a little lost as to what she should do after the gorilla comment. Sora felt fear creeping up on him, hoping she wasn’t going to send him back upstairs to change into his school uniform.

“Alright,” she sighed. “I’ll call your school.”

It was too good to be true. “Really?” Sora straightened up. She nodded again, looking defeated “Mom!” He cried, wrapping his arms around her. “You’re the best!”

She patted him on the back. “Yeah, yeah,” she scoffed. “How come I only hear that when I’m doing you a favor?” 

When they broke apart she offered to help him pack a lunch.

*

Sora was considerably late, but, considering the peanut butter cookies in ziploc bags stored inside his backpack, Sora decided Riku wasn’t allowed to be too mad at him.

Besides, the sun still wasn’t totally up. The important thing was to meet before it got too bright out so no one would seem them- that way they wouldn’t have to answer uncomfortable questions like “Is that a _spaceship?”_ or “Why do you have a _spaceship?”_ and “What is _spaceship_ doing on the beach???”

Sora could make out the gummi ship, parked by the shore. As he got closer he could make out Riku too, baggy pants and jacket slightly unzipped so no one dare miss his abdominal muscles he was so proud of. His arms were crossed, leaning back against the gummi ship in a pose that looked nonchalant and natural, except Sora could tell Riku had been staying in that pose for awhile now and there was nothing natural about it. Sora knew Riku just liked looking cool.

And look cool he did, regardless of Sora knowing how fictitious that nonchalance was, with his long hair framing his face and the faint light of dawn framing the rest of him. Sora’s pace turned into a sprint, kicking up the sand beneath his feet until he slid to a stop and grinned brightly up at Riku.

“You’re late,” Riku informed him, smirk in place, stepping aside to open the hatch.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sora had heard it all before. He shrugged off his backpack and tossed it into the cockpit. Then he grabbed at the metal frame of the ship and was about to hoist himself up, stopping when he felt a hand against his either side of his hips. Sora rolled his eyes because he wasn’t _that_ short, but didn’t protest as Riku practically lifted him up and Sora swung his legs into the ship’s interior.

Once Sora had gotten settled he went to offer Riku a hand, but Riku was already climbing into the cabin so nevermind that. Instead Sora sat down in the pilot’s chair and closed the hatch. “I was talking to my mom,” Sora informed him.

Riku sat down on the seat to the right of him. “I thought you said it would be easier not to tell her about the mission?”

“She caught me sneaking out,” Sora shrugged. “I forgot she left for work early on thursdays.”

“What was it you were telling me last week?” Riku drawled. “Something about being the ‘master of thinking things through’?”

Sora kicked lightly off the control panel, swiveling the pilot’s chair around to see Riku’s dumb smug face. Riku must have been intimated by the glare Sora shot him (good) because Riku stopped chuckling to say, “How’d she take it?”

“Pretty well,” Sora smiled, not forgetting he should be grateful she had let him go at all. “She really liked how safe the mission is.”

“That makes one of us,” Riku grumbled. Sora knew he was just as disappointed that they were being treated with kid gloves after all they had done for the Realm of Light. “I can’t believe we’re being sent out just to unlock a ship. I feel like a glorified crow bar.”

Sora laughed. “At least these glorified crow bars get to skip out on school,” he reminded Riku.

Riku huffed again, and Sora knew it was because Riku wasn't as happy about skipping school as a teenager should be, due to the fact his best friend was desperately floundering to make up for all school they had missed _and_ keep up his A average. But Sora kept grinning at him persistently until Riku returned the expression, because it was important to him that Riku thought on the bright side too and appreciated that this meant they were getting off the Islands, together, for a whole day.

Riku finally gave in, exhaling through his nose and lips twitching up, giving Sora an exasperated smile. Satisfied, Sora turned back around to the control panel and began firing up the ship’s engine. 

“Just don’t kill us,” Riku voiced.

Sora ignored him, knowing Riku was just jealous of his awesome flying skills. Yeah, Riku might have been able to transport himself anywhere with Dark Corridors at will back when he was using the powers of darkness, which had been convenient, but that had just caused him miss out on learning how to operate a gummi ship and the fun of a good ol’ fashioned space road trip.

*

An hour of enduring several backseat driver comments later, the hatch was opening and Sora was stretching out muscles stiff with inactivity. Among the rush of nostalgia for the worlds Sora had been missing after a month cooped up in high school, Sora was instantly reminded of the not so pleasant things about Deep Jungle he hadn’t missed. The air quality was the first on that list.

Yeah, it was humid back home in the Islands, the air thick and full of salt, but it was nothing compared to this. The humidity felt like it would need to be cut through with a machete, forget the metaphor about knives, and even then it would be difficult to chop through. For all the boiling moisture in the air, Sora felt as though he could have swam his way out of the ship instead of climbing down the side.

The metal was hot from entering atmosphere and coupled with the thickness of the air and the sun beating down on them, Sora was sweaty before his feet even touched land. Riku tumbled out next to him, far less composed than usual. Sora knows however hot he feels in his clothes Riku must feel ten times worse in all that fabric and hair that was coming down to his elbows.

“So,” Sora felt a bead of sweat already running down his temple, but grinned at Riku despite that. “Welcome to Deep Jungle!”

Riku closed the hatch, the hydraulics whirring as the glass window shut itself. “Do you know where we are?” he asked.

Sora looked around, wondering if he did. All around them were stalks of yellow bamboo, growing so thickly together there wasn’t room for even a finger in between them, reaching up to the sky and looming around them like walls. The area around the two was cleared, and Sora thought to himself that it did look somewhat familiar. “I think so,” he voiced.

“Okay,” Riku looked a bit relieved, some of the uncertainty fading from his face. “Do you know the crash site is?” Sora pressed his lips together, trying to remember if he had asked or if anyone had told him this bit of information. Riku frowned. “Wait- Sora, you don’t know where we’re supposed to go?” 

Sora shook his head and Riku groaned. Sora wasn’t too put off by the fact they had both forgotten to find this out. He knocked a closed fist against his chest, reassuringly announcing, “Don’t worry, man! Adventuring heroes rule number one; ask the locals if they’ve seen anything odd around!”

Riku didn’t look reassured. Instead he just raised an eyebrow and grabbed at Sora’s cheeks with a hand, turning Sora’s head to a patch of tangled bushes and vines a few feet from them. Sora wasn’t sure why until Riku pointed out an incredibly thick, spotted, brown snake slithering its way into the thicket. Sora couldn’t help but feel his stomach tighten a little at what a very long snake it was. “Locals like him?” Riku asked.

Sora laughed, a little nervous. “Nah, locals like Tarzan.”

“Your non-english speaking friend?” Riku finally removed the hand from Sora’s face.

“Yup!” Sora pointed off in the direction he thought the lagoon might be, where Tarzan might be, who _might_ have some idea as to where the crashed spaceship might be, and said, with much certainty, “Let’s go thataway!”

*

Making their way through the clearing, decidedly not going anywhere near the bushes for fear of meeting some of that snake’s pals, Sora started to feel more and more of what heat the jungle had to offer them. He ran a hand through his damp hair.

“So-” Riku panted over his shoulder and Sora had to jog so they could be side-by-side again, his pace was being hindered by the baking sun and was currently no match for Riku’s long legs. “Adventuring rule number one is ‘ask the locals’?”

Sora beamed. “Yep!” Ever since the king expressed to them that he wanted the two to join forces to help restore the worlds, Sora had been buzzing with excitement to teach Riku all he knew about traveling and saving people. It was about time Riku got to try all that the side of the light had to offer. Sora hoped that experiencing it would help Riku wrap his head around the fact that he was doing good now, and maybe help end some of those self-inflicted guilt trips. At this point Kairi was telling Sora she was going to pull out a squirt bottle the next time Riku apologized for kidnapping her and spray him with water until he stopped with the self-loathing.

“It’s not like, ‘don’t forget to pack underwear’?” Riku shot him an amused smile as Sora finally caught up to him.

Sora frowned, realizing his rules needed some revision. “Okay, maybe ask the locals is rule three. After like, ‘pack underwear’ and ‘bring plenty of water.’”

“Did you bring water?” Riku asked, looking concerned. Sora waved his hand to displace Riku’s worries. It had taken a lot of convincing that Riku didn’t need to bring a truckload of supplies, and Sora had declared himself master of thinking things through and promised to pack so Riku could stop having an aneurysm about it.

“Of course! No underwear though,” Sora thought for a moment before adding, “except what I’m wearing, anyway. Want me to get out the bottle?”

Riku shook his head. He briefly squinted at the sun beating down on them before admitting, “I would like some sunscreen. Did you pack that?”

“Uh…” He had not. Sora did not need sunscreen. Sora was naturally dark enough to not need it, but Riku and his pale butt certainly did. Sora bit his lip. Riku and his pale butt were going to _fry._

Riku blanched, clearly aware of this fate. Sora looked down at their feet. After all that convincing to get Riku to entrust him with packing Sora had failed him. Sora awaited the coming scolding or crack at his intelligence. 

Instead Riku bumped against Sora’s shoulder with bicep, making Sora look up to see Riku giving him an exasperated smile. “Well, it’s my fault for not reminding you- how about we make ‘ask the locals’ rule number four and ‘bring sunscreen for Riku’ number three?”

*

Eventually they managed to wander out of the bamboo thicket and found themselves in a larger clearing where Jane and her father had set up camp. Sora was a little surprised to see it was still a camp, though granted it was looking more worn and overgrown than before. Sora was even more surprised to see Jane sitting in the middle of it, notebook on lap and pencil in hand, gazing at a small, yellow bird perched on the rooftop of the tent.

Upon the boys entering the clearing, the bird startled and took off. Jane gave a frustrated huff, closing the notebook and placing it on one of the wooden box she had been sitting on. She stood up, catching sight of the two.

“Good heavens! That isn’t Sora I see, is it?” she asked, stepping forward with an expression of awe. She looked significantly more wild than the last time Sora had seen her, skirt ripped short, hair tied back, skin darker from the sun and body more toned. She was shorter too- wait, no, he had just gotten taller. It had been a long time since he had last been in Deep Jungle, after all.

“It is!” Sora grinned, happy to see her again. She had left a good impression on him, giving advice for navigating the jungle and offering him encouragement in his quest to find his best friends and return home, and he thought their farewell after he had sealed the world’s Keyhole had been their last. “I thought you and your father were heading back to England?”

“Oh!” She laughed brightly. “Well…”

“Jane stay with Tarzan.”

Sora gave a surprised jump, not having sensed Tarzan’s presence beside him at all until the man had spoken. After recovering from the shock of the hulking ape of a man being mere inches across from him without Sora having noticed, Sora’s face broke wide into a grin. “Tarzan! Your english has gotten so good!”

“Sora,” Tarzan nodded with a smile. Sora had been tempted to hug him, but opted for just smiling politely as Tarzan stared him down with those soulful eyes. Riku had told Sora on several occasions he didn’t understand personal space, and that may be true but now Riku could meet Tarzan and see that Sora wasn’t all that bad. Speaking of, where was his best friend?

Sora turned to see Riku, still at the edge of the thicket, standing awkwardly and rubbing at the back of his neck. Sora huffed, rolling his eyes. Riku was never going to get a hold of this whole ‘adventuring heroes’ thing if he couldn’t come over and introduce himself as one. He walked back to his friend, grabbing him by the shoulders and pushing him towards the center of camp.

“Tarzan! Jane!” Riku stopped protesting as they got closer, nodding politely at the adults. “This is the friend I told you about!”

Jane clapped her hands together. “How wonderful! So you managed to find him?”

“I sure did!” Sora gave Riku’s shoulders a little shake, presenting him. 

Sora knew Riku was a bit affronted at being put on display, but Sora couldn’t help it. Sora had wanted to scream it from the rooftops that he had finally found his best friend. He wanted to tell Aladdin and Captain Jack Sparrow and Mulan and Santa Claus and Nala and Pooh and _everyone_ just how proud he was of himself for finding Riku and how happy he was to have him back. Though, come to think of it, technically Kairi had found Riku and Sora wondered why he wasn’t sending her a bouquet of roses and thank you notes every day for it.

Eventually Riku had had enough of being on the spotlight and shrugged Sora off, stepping back and clearing his throat. “We’re looking for a spaceship. Would any of you have happened to see where it crashed?”

Oops. Sora had forgotten to mention one of the _actual_ adventuring rules Donald and Goofy had taught him, unlike the ones he had been making up for Riku. Don’t mess with the world order; which included not mentioning technology outside of the world’s time period.

Fortunately, there was no real consequence for the spaceship remark. Jane smiled at them, looking a bit puzzled. “Would it have fallen from the sky?” She asked. Sora nodded. “Well, my father did see something like that.” She placed a hand gently on Tarzan’s shoulder. “Where did he say it was, Tarzan?”

Tarzan responded to her not in english, but in a series of grunts and screeches. “Oh?” She briefly said before delving into gorilla speak as well. They chattered away at eachother for awhile and Riku raised his eyebrows at Sora. Sora shrugged with a smile. “Welcome to Deep Jungle,” he said again.

*

After a bit of conversing in not-english, Jane had informed the pair that her father had seen something crashing at the edge of the valley a mile or two upstream from the camp. Sora had thanked them, gloated a bit about how well his adventure rule number four had worked out, and headed through the jungle, following the slope down to the valley and to the stream.

Underneath the canopy of palm trees and thick foliage, the sun was a little less intense, and there was something of a breeze trying to work it’s way through the flora. Granted the breeze was just blowing around hot air, and that it was still unbearably humid alongside the buzzing of insects, but it was a fraction cooler than the bamboo thicket. Because of this, Sora’s energetic pace was no longer hindered and he was trailblazing through the plants, this time far ahead of Riku.

Sora expertedly hopped over some roots bulging from the ground and weaved his way through thickets of hanging vines, turning back to see Riku still ambling down the path Sora had inadvertently cleared behind him. “Too slow, Riku!” Sora called smugly, sitting down on a boulder to wait for his friend to catch up. He pulled off his backpack and relished in the wind hitting the soaked back of his shirt. He had half a mind to pull it off, but the buzzing insects made him decide against it. His exposed legs were already starting to itch fiercely.

“The wind keeps blowing my hair into my face,” Riku defended once he had caught up. That did seem to be true, as Riku kept pushing his bangs out of his eyes. Sora considered this. 

“Want me to braid it?” He offered.

Riku blinked. “Uh- come again?”

“Braid your hair,” Sora repeated, lifting up his hands and flexing his fingers. “With these.”

“Do you even know how to braid hair, Sora?” Riku asked, eyebrows knitted together. Sora nodded.

“Yep, Selphie taught me.” Sora patted at the ground in front of him, offering Riku to sit. “Come on, it’s going to be impossible to brush tomorrow if I don’t,” Sora told him. That was true, but not all the reason. Sora did care about his friend’s future hair-brushing well-being, but more so, once the idea had popped into his head Sora found his fingers itching to get a hold of that long hair.

Riku opened his mouth, probably to decline, but at that moment another gust made it’s way through the jungle, rustling the thick of trees around them and sending a large amount of hair into Riku’s mouth. Sora laughed as Riku spluttered, pulling strands damp with spit off of his tongue. Riku looked at Sora with resignation.

“Fine,” he huffed, sitting down in front of the rock, crossing his legs and pushing his hair back over his shoulders. Sora felt his eyes swell up with stars, breathing out shakily. He wondered why he had never tried to get his hands on Riku’s hair before. Riku settled himself against the rock and Sora leaned down, dragging a few fingers through the soft stuff. “Uhm,” Riku looked up at him and Sora stilled his hand.

“Yes?” Sora roused after a moment of Riku looking at him uncertainly, not saying anything.

“Be gentle with it?” Riku tried. He looked embarrassed. Sora felt a fond grin spread across his face. Cute. Riku was cute. Sora didn’t express that aloud, he was sure Riku already felt emasculated enough by having his hair braided.

“Of course,” Sora assured him. Riku didn’t relax, but he did turn to face forward and lean back against the rock. Sora began stroking his hair. It wasn’t too knotted yet, and Sora was able to work out the tangles just fine with fingers alone. Riku’s hair was fairly damp and a little sticky like the rest of them, so it was a bit harder to work with, but Sora didn’t mind in the slightest.

After brushing it out with his fingers Sora just continued to run his hands through Riku’s hair. Honestly, at this point he was just kind of petting him because somewhere in Sora’s giddy, delirious heat-stroke state he was hoping Riku would purr. Riku certainly did not purr, but he did recline a little, less tense than before. 

A piece of Sora had been hoping for this. Not necessarily a braiding session turned petting session part, but definitely the getting to see Riku relax a little part. Nevermind the fact they were in different grades, school was already enough of a division in itself. It left Riku stressed and on edge, and the stale atmosphere of the Islands felt like too much of a false peace for either of them to unwind. Sora would have jumped on any opportunity to get Riku out of it for a day.

Sora worked the hair into three separate segments and started alternated in overlapping the parts just like Selphie had shown him. Growing up, Sora had prefered the company of his male friends, but had enjoyed the occasion spent with just Selphie and Kairi- usually when Wakka and Riku were being jerks and he didn’t feel like being around them. Sora had picked up quite a few random skills from the two of girls, and he was grateful for all they had taught, especially now, because it was the reason he was playing with Riku’s hair.

“Selphie would be so jealous if she knew you let me do this,” Sora told him.

“Oh?” Riku sounded amused. “Why?”

“Uh,” Sora rolled his eyes, “because you have amazing hair. Duh.”

“Hair is just hair, Sora.” Sora could tell by the sound of his voice Riku was probably rolling his eyes at him too.

“It is not!” Sora protested. “Your hair is something special, Riku. It’s so shiny and soft and-” Sora stopped himself before saying it smelled nice. Sora was surprised the thought had crossed his mind. It seemed a bit odd of a thing to think about a friend’s hair. Though, maybe he was overthinking it. Maybe that wasn't weird. Smelling nice wasn’t a weird compliment, was it? Sora didn’t chance saying it aloud. Instead he just repeated “-and amazing.”

Riku gave an uncomfortable cough, like he was flattered but didn’t want to admit it. “Are you done?”

Sora finished weaving the last of his hair and frowned, realizing he didn’t have any hair ties. On a whim he ripped a piece off of the vine that was clinging to the rock and tied the bottom of Riku’s braid with it. “Yep, all done.” Sora tossed the braid over Riku’s shoulder for him to admire Sora’s hard work. Sora wanted to keep sitting like this, with Riku cross-legged below him and head resting on Sora’s thigh, but they had places to be and Riku stood up, dusting off his pants. Sora got up as well, slinging the bag back onto sweaty shoulders.

“Uhm. Thanks.” Riku ran his hands over the weaved hair, looking at it uncertainly.

“Happy to help.” Sora grinned. “So, now that you don’t have any hair to bother you, do you still plan on moving like a turtle?”

Riku narrowed his eyes and Sora saw the challenged had not gone unnoticed, something of a fire behind them. “You’re on,” Riku countered, tossing his hair back over his shoulder and hurrying down the slope, Sora not far behind.

*

Sora was significantly soaked before even reaching the river, chest heaving and whole body dripping with sweat. His legs were covered in scrapes and soon to be bruises from hurdling himself through the foliage, but none of that mattered because he was in the lead. 

Or so he thought, anyway. Sora pushed his way through a thick huddle of trees and finally saw the flowing stream he had been hearing for the past few minutes. He also saw Riku, sitting by the water’s edge, doubled over and wheezing but clearly the victor of the race. Sora frowned, kicking at some of the vines tangled around his foot. Completely unfair.

“You’re late,” Riku told him for the second time that day, panting, managing to smile smugly despite his clear oxygen deprivation. Sora huffed, sitting himself next to Riku. He pulled off the backpack and rummaged around until he found the water bottle. He had half a mind to just douse it on himself, but opted for taking a few gulping sips before passing it onto Riku.

Sora looked around, surveying the stream. Stream was definitely a better word than river. Sora wasn’t sure the exact difference between the two terms, but it didn’t seem deep enough to be the latter. Rivers were something you had to swim through, and the water seemed to be only waist-deep at the lowest points. The rest probably would come up to Sora’s knees (or Riku’s calves). As soon as Riku handed back to the bottle, Sora began untying his shoes and crammed them into his bag as well.

“Want me to carry the bag for a bit?” Riku offered. Sora shook his head, slinging it on again

“Nah, I got this.” It wasn’t heavy so much as just hot, and the sweaty straps would chafe horribly against Riku’s sleeveless shoulders. Sora carefully slid down the rocks before stepping into the stream. At first, the chilled temperature was a shock, but as soon as he had overcome the initial surprise it was a welcome relief. 

The bottom of the stream was compiled of rocks, mossy and slippery. Sora had thought they would be able to move faster through the water, without roots to trip over or vines to weave through or shrubbery to climb over, but that wasn’t the case. Sora would need to go slowly lest he slip and crack his head on some of the more jagged rocks jutting out of the murky brown water.

Sora waited a moment for Riku, pulling off his shoes and tying the laces to his belt so the sneakers could dangle at his hip and rolling up his pant legs to his knees. Between that and his hair tied back, Sora thought Riku looked like he was in full gung-ho adventure mode. Sora also thought it was a really good look on him.

*

The stream was proving to be an infinitely harder trek than the valley. They had entered at something of a shallows and the further they went upstream, the deeper the water ran. Sora was alternating between straining to keep the bag above the waterline as he waded and clambering up over boulders and haphazardly hopping rocks. He was starting to miss the mud and tree roots of the jungle, at least if those tripped him up he would just be falling on damp leaves and not hard stone.

The jungle had also offered shade, something the stream did not. The occasional tree top would cover the water, but for the most part they were completely exposed to the sunlight. Sora had thought that getting damp from wading would have helped cool him off, but it only took a second out of the water for the sun to make his clothes into hot, wet, heavy ones.

Sora had wondered if they should make their way back into the jungle and just follow the stream from the water’s edge, but the further upstream they went the higher the stone walls rose, effectively trapping them at the bottom of the valley, and Sora did not want to backtrack precious distance to return to where it had been possible to climb up.

The only upside was that because the path was so uneven, this wasn’t a race that one could win from the unfair advantage of longer legs. Instead it was a race that had to be won with quality decision making in what rocks to place one’s weight on and superior muscle strength to quickly and carefully crouch down and climb onto the next. So far, Sora and Riku were evenly matched. But Sora wasn’t going to hold out for much longer, his legs were shaking with exertion and his arms were aching. Plus, his stomach was growling fiercely.

Sora sat down on the next stone wide enough and somewhat flat enough to be comfortable. “Hey!” Sora called to Riku, “Let’s each lunch!” Riku dragged his soaking body up as well, sitting beside him, half off the rock because it wasn’t necessarily the best place for a picnic.

Sora had Riku hold the bag as he rummaged through it, taking out tuna sandwiches and peanut butter cookies, safely zipped up in plastic bags, though a little smashed from being jostled around. “I’m surprised you packed a lunch,” Riku commented. 

Sora grinned. “I’m just great at planning like that.” He didn’t mention how it had been his mother’s idea or how she had been the one to actually make the sandwiches as he just sat there, eating sugary cereal and thanking her profusely. Those details were irrelevant. 

Sora crossed his legs, leaning forward on his elbows and his chin on his palm, eating the sandwich with his free hand. He had missed a lot of the scenery being laser focused on the expanse of stream immediately in front of him. Now he took his chance to look around, especially up, where the treetops stretched impossibly high, reaching towards the near cloudless sky. He took note of the way the plants closest to the edge canopied over them, and the patterns the light created criss-crossing through the leaves.

Riku took a swig of the water next to him, his elbow bumping against Sora as he did. “It’s kind of amazing how many different kinds of plants this world has,” Riku voiced. “I don’t know the names of half of these trees.”

Sora took a bite of his sandwich, considering this. He wouldn’t have ever stopped to think about the names of trees, just acknowledge that they were different from the banyans and palms back home. “Jane might know,” Sora thought aloud. “She’s a scientist. Tarzan might haves names for them too but…” he trailed off.

“Not in a language we’d understand,” Riku finished for him.

Sora smiled. “Right.”

Riku was quiet for awhile. Then, softly, he added, “I’m glad we’re here.”

“Heh, me too.” Sora finished the sandwich and began balling up the plastic wrapper, placing it in the bag and swapping it for the one still full of cookies. “Want a peanut butter cookie?”

Riku gave him one of those trademark Riku faces, the kind that only he could give and only Sora could produce from him. Not sure if he was amused or annoyed but definitely bewildered. “Peanut butter and tuna, Sora?” He asked.

Sora shrugged, popping one into his mouth. Food was food, and peanut butter cookies were really good. Except after chewing it he did realize the flavors were mixing oddly, but he didn’t let that deter him too much from enjoying the rest of them.

Afterwards, Sora placed the empty ziploc back into the backpack and leaned against Riku. He was as sticky and damp as Sora and his skin was warm from the sun, but he was comfortable because Sora was just glad Riku was beside him. It was something Sora never wanted to take for granted again- even if Riku complained Sora was sweaty and tried to shove him off.

*

By the time Riku noticed a scrap of metal caught in between two rocks, shimmering under the water, Sora had forgotten what it felt like to be dry. He wasn’t even sure at this point if he was wet with mud, sweat, humidity, or river water or but his feet were pruning and everything ached. 

Sora didn’t dare torture his suffering feet any more by trying to shove them back into his damp, sweaty sneakers. Riku, on the other hand, did pull his shoes back before they scrambled their way onto a ledge of the valley cliff and up the slope, making their way to a bent patch of trees at the top the two could just make out in the distance.

Sora hadn’t noticed when going downhill, (too intent on running to beat Riku,) just how loud the jungle was. He noticed it now, hoisting himself up the steep slope by gripping onto tree trunks so he didn’t slip in ankle-high mud down the hill and into the river.

All around him was the sound of rustling plant life and fauna that it concealed. Croaking frogs, shrieking birds, chittering primates and all sorts of other commotion Sora couldn’t identify the source of. Sora thought back to the snake they had seen in the thicket and was starting to feel on edge.

“Something up?” Riku asked, and Sora glanced to see Riku a few feet above him, frowning. He offered Sora his hand, and Sora took it, clasping at his wrist because he was so sweaty he knew their fingers would just slip apart. 

Riku helped pull him up the few feet of distance between them, and Sora could have climbed it himself but he tended to not deny Riku the occasion to needlessly fuss over him. Sora didn’t really get why Riku would, but Sora figured sometimes he liked to fuss over Riku so it was only fair to be on the receiving end. Plus Sora’s legs were really tired from all the climbing.

After finding himself situated somewhat steadily, Sora leaned against Riku to pant some more before saying, “I’m kind of worried about predators.”

“I haven’t seen any Heartless,” Riku commented. Sora shook his head against Riku’s shoulder, willing himself to have the energy to start climbing again. He failed, and instead just slumped against him harder.

“No, I didn’t mean Heartless.” The worlds in this star system seemed to be far less vulnerable to attacks after Sora had sealed their Keyholes a year ago. “Those are easy enough to deal with, just cast some Firaga, ya know? I just meant like, a rouge gorilla or whatever.”

Riku shrugged. “Those should be easy to deal with too.”

Sora finally got the energy to heave himself up off Riku’s shoulder. He raised his head to glare at him. “You can’t just shoot fire at a gorilla, Riku!”

“Why not?”

“I mean like, _morally,”_ Sora explained with exasperation.

“Oh, I guess you’re right.” Riku frowned, considering this. “You’d just have to fend it off with strength alone, I guess.”

“I’m not sure I’m strong enough to fight off a gorilla,” Sora murmured to himself, thinking of Tarzan’s scary gorilla dad.

Riku smirked. “Don’t worry, Sora. I am.”

“Really?” Sora grinned. “So what would you do if one came out and attacked me?”

“Punch it in the damn face,” Riku countered without missing a beat. Sora laughed, oddly flattered.

“Guess I got nothing to fear if you’re here, huh?” Sora asked, bumping Riku with his arm. 

The happy smile Riku gave him when he shook his head no in response was so warm in a pleasant way. It was nothing like the heat of the sun beating down on them now; more like the soft light of a sunrise. Sora’s heart melted. Just a little.

Reinvigorated, Sora made his way up the rest of valley’s slope with impressive speed.

*

After reaching the top of the valley to flat expanse, it was relatively easy to find the crash site. They followed the clear path that started as bent tree tops that gave way to scorch marks that became torn up ground, and eventually, a pile of crumpled metal.

It had been long enough that it was no longer smoking, but Sora could tell it had been at one point from the burned earth and charred foliage around it. A lot of the plating was warped, and it looked like some of that was due to heat damage and not just hurdling into the ground. The only part unscathed was the piece that was the cabin.

It was a combination of computer programming and magic, created by Merlin and Cid after the two had finally stopped bickering and agreed to work on a project together. Sora had been impressed by the idea; a seal would form itself around the cabin of the ship if it were ever to crash, protecting the passengers from injury or the cargo from being stolen. It was only unlockable from the inside. Though that seemed kind of like a mistake for a ship that was auto-piloting.

“They should tweak the system when there’s no pilot,” Riku grumbled, pushing soaked bangs off his forehead. “That way we don’t need to drag ourselves through a jungle the next time this happens.”

Sora nodded, reaching out in his hand and feeling the telltale hum of light as the Keyblade was summoned. Riku did the same beside him, and together they pointed their weapons at the ship cabin. There was a soft vibration and a small beam of light shot out of the end of his Keyblade, reaching out to the unseen force field.

It became partially visible for a moment, as the light spread itself around it. Then, there was an echoing click and a pleasant rush of wind through the stale air and Sora knew the force field had dissipated. He dropped his arm to his side, Keyblade dissolving back into light until the next time he called upon it.

Fairly anticlimactic.

Sora frowned.

“Glad that’s over with,” Riku voiced, dismissing his blade as well. Sora frowned harder. Riku noticed, looking over at him. “What’s up?”

Sora sighed, kicking at the ground. “I don’t want to go home yet.”

Riku looked at him for awhile and Sora glanced up to notice. Riku was starting to get a little pink from the sun, and his jacket was several shades darker than before, with both sweat and mud. Sora was sure he would be itching to get back so he could shower and start making up missed classwork. It hadn’t necessarily been a painless day, but Sora had been enjoying it immensely because Riku had been enjoying it. It had been such a nice change of pace from Riku’s usual serious stature at school and his awkwardness around people Riku was still convincing himself were angry with him.

Instead of suggesting they head back though, Riku just offered him a lopsided grin. “We still got plenty of daylight left.”

*

Getting back down into the valley was certainly easier than climbing out of it, but significantly more dangerous. All the roots that had provided means of leverage and support became tripping devices. Riku had face planted, quite impressively, at one point, and after checking to make sure he was okay Sora had laughed so hard he fell over too.

*

Only twenty minutes up the stream from where Riku first spotted the scrap metal was a waterfall. Sora had come to this realization after twenty minutes of more exhausting rock hopping. Sora was unbelievably excited by this realization.

“It’s a freaking waterfall!” He cried, throwing his arms into the air. He nearly lost his balance, but definitely didn’t care.

“Not really much of a waterfall,” Riku commented. Sora narrowed his eyes at his friend. Sure, the water was just trickling down the side of a forty degree angle cliff. It was nothing like the image the world ‘waterfall’ usually brought; a flood of drumming water falling from a great, steep height. Sora didn’t let that deter him from enjoying it though. It was forming a small, waist-deep pool and Sora decided that looked like a nice escape from the sauna that was jungle humidity.

“It’s wonderful, and it’s my waterfall now,” Sora told him firmly.

Riku rolled his eyes. “I don’t think it counts as a waterfall if you can climb it.”

Sora looked up at the steady incline of mossy rock that the water was lightly tumbling down, making a pleasant gurgling sound where it fed into the stream. “You think we can climb it?”

Riku was smirking at him. “I think that _I_ can.”

Sora puffed out his chest. “You tryna’ say I can’t?”

Riku shrugged, giving a pointed look. “I dunno. Can you, Sora?”

Well, that was just about as coy as coy could be. Sora decided taking a trip to the small pool would have to wait, tightening his backpack straps and making his way across the stream to the base of where the _totally a waterfall_ started.

Sora gripped at where the rock was driest, figuring it would be safest. The stone was baking hot to the touch, but at least it wasn’t slick. After finding a handhold he felt he could rely on, Sora heaved himself up. It really wasn’t too bad, the incline out of valley had been steeper.

Riku wasn’t far behind him, and then after a while Riku wasn’t too far ahead of him. Greatly annoyed, Sora tried to make his way up the slope faster but sweat was pouring into his eyes and it was starting to burn. He clenched his eyes shut, giving himself a moment to recover. By the time he opened them again, Riku was a good ten feet above him.

Sora’s hands became so sweaty he may as well have been climbing up the damp part of the rock. He was getting closer to the top, and the slide down certainly couldn’t kill him but would definitely bust a kneecap, so Sora made sure to keep a steady grip on the stone, even if it was burning his hands.

“Sora!” Riku called. Sora squinted up to see him crouching over the top, hands cupped over his mouth as he called his name. Sora had no idea what could make Riku _beam_ like that, bright smile so joyful it verged on laughter, but Sora wasted no time in climbing up to the top to get a glimpse of it too. 

Riku helped him up over the ledge, face practically glowing. Sora stood up, pushing back soaked hair from his face and looking around. “Oh,” was all he could say, the air gone from his lungs.

 _This_ was what the word waterfall called to mind and more. Gallons of water tumbling down rocky and mossy expanse around stubborn trees that were determined to not only grow from the cliff, but to flourish, luscious and green. All around them were stone walls of moss and foliage, and several rushing streams down into a pool compiled of the only water Sora had seen that day that wasn’t shallow and brown- in fact, it was a stunningly clear blue and stretching out wide enough to be called a lake.

“This is…” Sora couldn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t know how.

“...Yeah.” 

Sora wasted no time in pulling off the backpack, setting it at the water’s edge. He peeled off his jacket and shirt as well, and found them wet enough he could wring them out. He threw them on top of his bag and began fumbling with his belt, stepping out of his shorts and revealing he had, in fact, followed adventuring heroes rule number one, ‘bring underwear.’

Riku was still looking up at the waterfall view, and didn’t notice Sora’s lack of clothing until he had stripped down to blue boxers.

“W-what the heck are you doing, Sora?” He spluttered, looking away. Sora was amused, wondering when Riku had gotten so squeamish about a body he’d seen naked more times than either of them could remember.

“Isn’t it obvious?” was the only explanation Sora provided before diving into the pool.

The sensation of being doused with a bucket of ice water washed over Sora- and technically, that was what had happened after all- but it was welcome. He stayed beneath the surface, opening his eyes under the water to see his breath tumbling out as bubbles and shimmering blue all around him. Sora relished in the feeling of having chilled, goosebumped skin after burning all day before kicking up and surfacing with a gasp.

Riku was glowering at him. “Honestly, Sora!” He barked. “What about those predators you were so worried about?”

Sora laughed. Fussy, fussy, fussy. “Like what?” he called back.

“Snakes, for one!”

Sora laughed harder, unpleasantly snorting freezing water up his nose. He coughed it out before responding, “Snakes can’t swim!” Riku narrowed his eyes. “Duh!”

Riku grumbled something under his breath. All Sora could catch was _“-for the love of-”_ before Riku shouted, “What about crocodiles?”

Sora hadn’t thought about those. He had almost been swallowed by one back in Neverland and definitely didn’t want to repeat that scenario without deus ex machina fairydust. Sora swam in a circle thoughtfully, and then decided that swimming was so nice that if a crocodile was in the water he’d rather deal with that than the scorching jungle air.

“Eh, it’s fine!” Sora assured him, flipping up onto his back and kicking off the pool’s edge, launching himself toward the other side. Maybe crocodiles were only ocean creatures, he reasoned, slipping back beneath the surface. Sora swam until he reached the other end, then turned back around towards where Riku was standing, emerging with an impressive flip Ariel taught him.

Sora flung back his hair out of his eyes before checking to see if Riku was impressed. Riku stood at the water’s edge, watching him with interest. 

“Hey,” Riku began, and Sora preemptively gloated for the sure to come praise. “Since when do you know how to swim?”

Sora narrowed his eyes, sinking below the water’s edge just enough to angry blow bubbles, eyes still unsubmerged to glare at him. Really? After all Sora had done for Riku, all those places he visited and all those people he had asked about Riku’s whereabouts including the dang Emperor of dang _China,_ Riku had gone and said a thing like that.

“I’ve always known how to swim,” Sora spat.

A smile twitched at Riku’s lips. He shook his head. “No you just kinda…” he stopped to find the words and Sora continued to glare, “Propelled yourself along.”

“Oh. my. God.” Sora couldn't believe they were having this argument again. “That is swimming!”

“Doggy paddling isn’t swimming, Sora.”

“It is!” Riku rolled his eyes and Sora thought that wasn’t fair because _he_ should be the one doing that to Riku. “I told you, there’s no point in lessons at some gross pool if I’m just going to swim in the ocean everyday-”

Riku laughed. Sora frowned harder. “Sora, and I told you that if you’re going to be swimming everyday, you should actually...” Riku trailed off and Sora could tell he was relishing in his puffed up cheeks. “Know how to swim?”

“Well, for your information, _Riku,_ a mermaid princess taught me and it was awesome and I was in a musical performance and I was great and I’m sorry you had to miss it.” Riku started laughing harder and Sora splashed him for it.

Sora waited for the tratious jerk to calm down then grumbled, just loud enough to make sure Riku could hear him, “I bet I swim a heck of a lot better than you ever could,” and swam off.

It wasn’t until Sora was halfway towards the other side did he glance back, watching Riku strip off his jacket. Sora grinned, glad to see his words had the desired effect.

*

Sora won all three of their races. He decided he needed to do something really nice for Ariel if he got another chance to see her. After that Sora basked in victory and swam circles around Riku, informing his friend that the pool at the community center had free swimming lessons if he was interested, and after that they splashed eachother for a bit. Then Riku had released Sora from a headlock long enough to tell him they should probably get going soon because it was a long walk back to the gummi ship, before Sora pushed him under the water.

A brief wrestling match later, they climbed back up onto the rocks. However, when they went to change back into their clothes the two discovered just how badly they stunk, and had no desire to change back into them. They washed them and wrung them out in the pool setting them on the rocks to dry in the sun.

Sora was pleased at the excuse to stick around a little longer for several reasons. He was feeling exhausted, was dreading the hike back, but mostly he just wanted to enjoy the beauty of this place for as long as he could.

Sora knew Riku felt the same way. Sora watched as his best friend kept looking up at sky with a big doofy grin. Sora was grateful beyond words that they had the opportunity to come to Deep Jungle, knowing there was no way he would have gotten to see Riku crack smiles like those during the brief time they’d have gotten to spend together if they were on the Islands.

Though, something about Riku’s smile made Sora feel a bit unusual, the same kind of delirious giddiness he had felt when he let Sora braid his hair, the feeling Sora had chalked up to being nothing more than heatstroke. 

The smile wasn’t the only thing either. There was also the unusual feeling Sora was getting from staring at the rise and fall of Riku’s bare chest as he deeply breathed in the musky jungle air. Or the way Riku seemed to be staring at Sora’s bare chest, eyebrows knit together and frowning. Sora felt weirdly exposed for the first time since stripping down to nothing but underwear.

Riku’s eyes glanced up to Sora’s. “When did you get that?” Riku asked and for a minute Sora was confused before he realized what Riku had been staring at.

“Oh, this?” Sora looked down at the scar over his left breast. A few inches of gnarled pinkish-whitish skin. Sora had never given it much thought. “..it’s from when I turned into a Heartless.”

“Oh,” was all Riku said in reply. Sora didn’t bother elaborating, though he could see Riku looking at him with an air of confusion. Whether or not Riku knew how that came about, Sora didn’t feel the need to remind him or inform him that it was done by Riku’s Soul Eater. Instead, Sora decided, since Riku was ogling his body it was okay to mention what Sora had noticed on Riku’s.

“Is this from the fight with Xemnas?” Sora ghosted his fingers over Riku’s right hip, where a burn mark was just visible above the waistline of his boxers. There was a clear stripe of raised flesh and around it threads of blistered skin in a pattern that almost reminded Sora of a spider’s web.

Riku froze up, then nodded, averting his eyes. Sora frowned, wondering if Riku was self-conscious of it. “Scars are just life’s souvenirs,” Sora informed him, fairly sure he was quoting Wakka from when he had sliced his finger on a loose nail at the play island’s docks. “They’re like a cool road map of our journeys.”

“Well that’s cheesey,” Riku told him blankly.

“This is just proof you saved me,” Sora smiled, brushing his fingers over the burn mark again. Riku recoiled at the touch, and Sora wished that Riku could see what he could. That this red splotch on his hip was just an awesome testimony to the fact Riku had prevented him from getting his neck snapped by an Ethereal Blade. Sora was grateful for it in the same way he was grateful that Riku was alive and well beside him. Sora leaned forward and pressed his lips against the scar. 

Riku cried out a funny, strangled noise. “There,” Sora pulled away and patted at Riku’s hip gently. “All better.” Sora looked up to see Riku with an expression that was close to gawking. Sora’s heart sank, hoping he hadn’t made Riku even more uncomfortable.

After a minute Riku shut his mouth into a frown, and Sora’s heart went down a few feet lower. Then Riku’s lips twitched, and then he gave a small snort, and then his shoulders were heaving with laughter. “You _dork,”_ he wheezed.

Sora grinned, reaching for the skin below Riku’s ribcage, knowing what would make him laugh even harder. Riku squeaked at the attempt of tickling and shoved his hands away, breathless with mirth. “Don’t touch me, it might be contagious,” he scolded, then started laughing again at his own joke.

“No offense, Riku, but you’ve had ‘dork’ for a long time- and I don’t think you got it from me.” Sora was shoved again.

Riku’s face was turning red from how hard he was cracking up and Sora watched him with a kind of reverence. 

There was a time when Sora had told him, ‘You’re still Riku, no matter what.’ In that moment it had been about Riku’s body, but it applied to Riku’s heart as well. Sora had still seen his best friend, even in Ansem’s body, just as Sora had still his seen best friend in the lost and confused boy who had returned to Destiny Islands with him. Sora hadn’t been sure when he’d get to see Riku laughing like this, or if he was ever going to see it again at all. But now here Riku was, wheezing at Sora’s antics, clutching at his bare stomach, hair that had loosened from his braid falling into his face and Sora decided that the waterfall pool was the second best sight of the day.

So when Riku finally calmed down enough to breathe and looked at him, he wasn’t all that surprised by how he leaned forward and impulsively kissed Riku for a second time, on the lips.

Sora was kind of aware this was his first real kiss -not an accidental one from trying to aim for the cheek during an ill-timed turning of the face or from a headbutt gone horribly wrong- but the knowledge of that didn’t impress him. What impressed him were how impossibly soft Riku’s lips were; warm in the most pleasant of ways. And what _really_ fascinated him was Riku’s faint yelp of surprise that turned into a gentle sigh against Sora’s mouth, tilting his head and kissing him back.

Sora titled his head too, pressing their mouths together with more force, trying to remember when he had closed his eyes. All he could register was the thrumming of water beating against the pool’s surface and the cool mist it created and Riku and Riku’s hands resting themselves on Sora’s hips.

Sora couldn’t believe something could make him shiver in this world’s heat of late afternoon, but Riku drawing a hand up his side, lightly tracing its way up tingling skin to the base of his neck and running a hand through his hair had managed to do the trick. It also made Sora place his hands on Riku’s sides and pull him closer. 

Sora didn’t know how else to describe what happened next, except that Riku seemed to be melting in his arms. Muscles going slack, and tension fading from his body as he let Sora pull him forward until he was practically in Sora’s lap. The noise Riku made was also something to behold, keening and needy against Sora’s mouth. Sora would have laughed at Riku for it if Sora wasn’t currently in frenzied delirium at the fact he was one who was _causing_ Riku to _whimper_ like that.

Between how high Sora felt and the fact he wasn’t actually breathing, Sora realized he needed to break away before he passed out. He pulled away, opening his eyes to take a deep breath

Sora may not have been surprised he kissed Riku, because impulsively kissing your best friend after realizing you might be kind of in love with him seemed like a logical leap to Sora- if not unfair and thoughtless to do it without asking first. Sora would have apologized for it profoundly if Riku hadn’t kissed him back. Sora however, was surprised by how long he had kissed Riku, and that Riku had kissed back. He considered this, gasping for air as the ability to think slowly made its way back to him.

It seemed to slowly be making its way back to Riku as well, glazed over eyes becoming wide and panicked and flushed cheeks turning into burning red ones.

“No I-” Riku looked mortified. “Sorry! I- shi- wai-” he dragged a hand roughly through his long bangs. _”Fu-_ Sorry, _sorry!”_

Sora frowned. “What are you sorry about?” Riku freaking out was a little funny, but Sora willed himself not to laugh due to the severity of the situation. “I kissed you,” he reminded.

“I-” Riku slowly pulled the hand back from his face, realization of dawning on his face. “You kissed me,” he repeated. Sora nodded. “You- why did you kiss me?”

Sora shrugged, feeling nervous. “Probably for the same reason you kissed me back.”

“You’ve… liked me for years?”

“YEARS?!”

If Sora had thought Riku had looked embarrassed before it was nothing compared to now. _“Years?”_ Sora said again, the overwhelming happiness bubbling up in his stomach manifesting itself as slight laughter. Though some of that slipped away, watching Riku chewing at his lip, looking like a kicked puppy. Years. That probably included the span of time Sora had started ignoring Riku in favor of Kairi’s company.

“I kinda thought you knew,” Riku confessed quietly. Sora shook his head, frowning in thought. “Anyway, I thought you liked _Kairi._ ”

“Yeah, I mean I did.” Sora shrugged. He never really gave it enough thought to put into words. He just kind of realized at some point the days of laughing too hard at her jokes or trying to beat Riku at things to impress her and awkwardly sniffing her hair during hugs had passed. Since she hadn’t liked him back, the fact he was no longer interested didn’t seem like one worth announcing. But Riku was the type to need words, and Sora tried to figure out how to arrange them for him. “But after everything that’s happened over the past two years, after I kept losing the two over you over and over again… I realized I just didn’t want her back in the same way I wanted you back.”

Riku just blinked at him for awhile. Sora scratched at the back of his neck, feeling unnerved by Riku’s stare. He could hear the gears in Riku’s brain whirring.

“Can we just go back to kissing?” Sora ventured, giving Riku a smile. Riku didn’t return from where he was lost in thought, eyes averted and expression troubled.

“Sorry, it’s still processing,” Riku mumbled.

“That I like you?” Sora asked.

Riku just breathed out, _“wow you like me,”_ touching a hand to his lips and staring a hole into the water.

Sora beamed. “Yup, so let’s kiss.”

Riku looked back up at him through his bangs, head bowed. “I… need a minute.” He looked so cute Sora’s stomach tried to eat itself.

“You’ve had _years._ ” Sora put a lot of emphasis on that word, drawing it out. “Years and years. Right, Riku?”

Riku narrowed his eyes, scowling. The face was still cute. “Are you trying to tease me?” 

“Depends on how many years,” Sora quipped.

Riku huffed. He made the angry face that meant he was trying to cover up how embarrassed he was. Sora knew the face well, he had seen it many times. “Oh, shut up, Sora,” he groaned.

There was the in. Sora placed his hands behind him, leaning back and grinning wide. “How about you come here and make me?”

Riku was floored. A steady blush creeped its way up to his cheeks, eyes as wide as saucers. A challenge between the two could never go unacknowledged for long, though. Riku shifted, placing his hands on the ground at either side of Sora, angling forward and bringing their faces together, eyes looking nervous and downcast on Sora’s mouth.

Sora chuckled, tilting his head and pressing their lips together.

*

In the end, lips swollen, heart hammering, and happier than Sora thought was humanly possible, they didn’t make it back to the ship until sunset.

*  
*  
*

Kairi walked to school with Riku friday morning in silence. They would walk with Sora, but he liked sleeping in on schooldays and they actually cared about making it to class on time, so they just made a point to walk home with him instead. Usually they talked on these morning walks, but Riku was being so out of character and frustratingly _spacey_ today.

She wasn’t sure why Riku kept smiling to himself, or why he kept trailing off when she pressed him for details about how their mission had gone yesterday.

She _really_ wasn’t sure why he looked like he was about to burst of happiness despite the fact he had a peeling sunburn and was covered in a million angry bug bites. Riku’s expression was softer than she had seen in a long time, and she just could not figure out why.

Kairi wondered if it was going to become time to do serious investigating, but once they get to school she heard Sora brightly and breathlessly calling their names. She turned around to him running after them, tie loose and shirt unbuttoned in three different places, rushing to catch up to them. Late and disheveled, per the norm. Once Sora had reached them, he wasted no time in jumping up to give Riku a kiss on the cheek.

Kairi was shocked, sure Riku would react negatively to being ambushed with random physical contact like that. He did- at first. Riku had tensed up, but after a moment he relaxed little, leaning down to kiss Sora back.

On the lips.

Oh. _Oh._ Well, now a lot of things made sense.

She decided to give Sora a high-five once they stopped kissing.

Sora got up onto his tip-toes and threw his arms around Riku’s neck, and Riku wrapped his arms around Sora’s waist, cementing them together, blissfully unaware of other students angrily clearing their throats at the two for blocking the sidewalk, stepping onto the road to make their way around them.

Kairi’s eyebrows rose. _If_ they ever stopped kissing.

**Author's Note:**

> You know what they say about the young....
> 
> they'll makeout for an hour in the middle of Africa and get really bad mosquito bites.
> 
> I dunno why I write so much soriku fanfiction. I dunno why it always comes out so much longer than I mean it too. I'm also pretty sure you can't actually travel via gummy ships post kh2 but I don't care I need an excuse to think abt Atlantica mermaid boyfriends and Sora introducing Riku to winnie the pooh before going to Christmas Town together. Honestly AUs are nice and but why isn't there more canon-verse soriku? Have you seen Prankster's paradise? I need 20 fics abt them romping around Windup Way asap that place is too cute.
> 
> I think some of the narrating was a little clunkier than usual, Sora's a tad hard for me to write. (irnoic since he's my 2nd favorite character in all the games He'd be the first but my heart will forever belong to Winnie the Pooh...) but I hope you enjoyed regardless. (feel free to tell me if u did below ehehe >u>)


End file.
